General Research Issues

My thesis examined how historians use ancient material to form narratives; why they select certain texts over others and how they choose to translate and emphasise particular words and phrases. It focused on the ancient Greek historiography used in local history within the UK and specifically the role that Strabo, Diodorus and others played in the historiographical tradition of Cornwall up to the beginning of the twentieth century. I show that although a number of narratives were used in Cornwall to formulate a sense of local identity the interpretation of Classical material had a distinctive and important role.

I have also looked at the role of Classical Imagery in Susan Cooper’s “Dark is Rising Sequence” for the Classical Association Conference 2013 and examined what representations of time-travel to Roman Britain can show scholars about popular conceptions of that period for the SFF conference 2013: Fantastika and the Classical World (published in Foundation 118). These are part of an ongoing interest in both children’s lit and imperialism/nationalism

More generally, I am also interested on how Classical study and approach is affected by the internet (CA paper 2009) and would like to explore more about the role of different methods of knowledge dissemination on non-classicists. e.g. Are more people confident in exploring texts and myths through Wikipedia and Perseus? etc.

Any Thoughts?


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